London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
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Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
London County Council 1897
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for London County Council]
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Scarlet fever, 1897—Age and sex distribution.
The following table shows the case rates, death rates and fatality of scarlet fever at several ages
and for each sex in London during the year 1897. The case rate of males was very slightly less than
that of females, differing in this respect from the preceding year. The death rate and the case
mortality among males were greater than those among females. The greatest incidence of attack was
upon children four years of age both in the case of males and females, the greatest incidence of death
was on males of two years of age and on females of three years of age.
| Age-period. | Males. | Females. | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cases. | Deaths. | Case mortality per cent. | Rates per 100,000 living. | Cases. | Deaths. | Case mortality per cent. | Rates per 100,000 living. | |||
| Cases. | Deaths. | Cases. | Death*. | |||||||
| All ages. | 10,783 | 413 | 3.8 | 511 | 20 | 12,065 | 372 | 3.1 | 513 | 16 |
| 0— | 187 | 25 | 13.4 | 327 | 44 | 185 | 27 | 14.6 | 318 | 46 |
| 1— | 471 | 56 | 11.9 | 920 | 109 | 435 | 48 | 11.0 | 842 | 93 |
| 2— | 778 | 88 | 11.3 | 1,453 | 164 | 821 | 63 | 7.7 | 1,527 | 117 |
| 3— | 1,075 | 78 | 7.3 | 2,073 | 150 | 1,084 | 76 | 7.0 | 2,042 | 143 |
| 4— | 1,145 | 42 | 3.7 | 2,270 | 83 | 1,221 | 42 | 3.4 | 2,410 | 83 |
| 5— | 4,191 | 78 | 1.9 | 1,751 | 33 | 4,847 | 87 | 1.8 | 2,004 | 36 |
| 10— | 1,761 | 19 | 1.1 | 806 | 9 | 2,065 | 14 | 0.7 | 927 | 6 |
| 15— | 645 | 10 | 1.6 | 308 | 5 | 604 | 4 | 0.7 | 260 | 2 |
| 20— | 256 | 11 | 4.3 | 124 | 5 | 343 | 3 | 0.9 | 138 | 1 |
| 25— | 201 | 3 | 1.5 | 57 | 1 | 342 | 4 | 1.2 | 84 | 1 |
| 35— | 49 | 3 | 6.1 | 19 | 1 | 89 | 1 | 1.1 | 31 | — |
| 45— | 18 | - | - | 10 | — | 19 | 2 | 10.5 | 9 | 1 |
| 55 and Upwards | 6 | - | - | 3 | - | 10 | 1 | 10.0 | 4 | — |
Scarlet fever—Seasonal variation in age distribution.
In my last report I stated that the London notification statistics afforded reason for thinking
there was seasonal variation in the age distribution of scarlet fever.
I now publish the figures supplied by the period 1892-97. It will be seen that children under
five years of age constitute a greater proportion of total cases at the early part of the year, and that this
proportion falls to a minimum in September, subsequently rising to the end of the year. There is
arrest of this fall in the month of August due to the fact that children of the school age are not then
contracting disease in school, and the children under five, therefore, constitute a larger proportion of
the total cases.
| Month. | All ages. | 0— | 1— | 2— | 3— | 4— | Under 5. | 5— | 10— | 15— | 20 and upwards. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 8,976 | 152 | 372 | 623 | 805 | 861 | 2,813 | 3,502 | 1,543 | 512 | 606 |
| February | 7,196 | 102 | 297 | 469 | 606 | 747 | 2,221 | 2,801 | 1,222 | 425 | 527 |
| March | 7,842 | 114 | 337 | 544 | 719 | 741 | 2,455 | 2,946 | 1,379 | 491 | 571 |
| April | 8,122 | 133 | 331 | 541 | 705 | 787 | 2,497 | 3,064 | 1,428 | 503 | 630 |
| May | 10,377 | 160 | 411 | 717 | 918 | 973 | 3,179 | 3,912 | l,871 | 653 | 762 |
| June | 12,018 | 202 | 462 | 806 | 1,075 | 1,114 | 3,659 | 4,777 | 2,035 | 745 | 802 |
| July | 14,987 | 220 | 534 | 965 | 1,267 | 1,423 | 4,409 | 5,884 | 2,779 | 913 | 1,002 |
| August | 14,513 | 252 | 632 | 1,082 | 1,315 | 1,354 | 4,635 | 5,311 | 2,570 | 1,015 | 982 |
| September | 18,148 | 272 | 625 | 1,076 | 1,579 | 1,697 | 5,249 | 7,646 | 3,281 | 978 | 994 |
| October | 18,825 | 304 | 672 | 1,213 | 1,639 | 1,738 | 5,566 | 7,726 | 3,383 | 1,055 | 1,095 |
| November | 15,756 | 291 | 597 | 1,016 | 1,380 | 1,471 | 4,755 | 6,222 | 2,823 | 960 | 996 |
| December | 10,883 | 196 | 428 | 736 | 1,015 | 1,065 | 3,440 | 4,192 | 1,858 | 609 | 784 |
* In the preparation of this table, the question whether the persons, who were attacked and who died, be onged to London is
disregarded, the percentage being calculated on the number of cases notified in London, and the number of deaths occurring in London
and the institutions belonging to London. Inasmuch as the age of the patient is not in all cases recorded in the notification certificate,
It has been necessary to distribute such cases among the various ages proportionately.